See how to use these new electric rental bikes

Electric rideshare bikes are coming to Sacramento, West Sacramento and Davis. The e-bikes have a motor that can do half the pedaling work for their riders, and cruise at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour.

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Electric rideshare bikes are coming to Sacramento, West Sacramento and Davis. The e-bikes have a motor that can do half the pedaling work for their riders, and cruise at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour.

Annoyed with all the JUMP bikes in Sacramento yet? You are not alone

On a cool Wednesday morning, Russell Rawlings boarded a light rail train bound for the Sacramento Valley Station, just as he always does to go to work. He got off and, again, like always, guided his motorized wheelchair toward the nearby Starbucks.

But on this particular morning, he finally encountered the same thing more and more of us who live and work in the central city are encountering — a “thoughtlessly abandoned” JUMP bike parked in the middle of the sidewalk.

“I was able to sneak around it with mere inches to spare,” Russell wrote on Facebook. “But the menace factor is on the rise. How can we get some accountability here?”

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Uber, which owns JUMP, started dropping the candy red, GPS-equipped bikes in Sacramento, West Sacramento and Davis in May. These days, there are about 600 of them trolling the streets, all for rent with a smartphone app and too often piloted by people — derisively dubbed “jumpholes” — who run traffic lights and hog sidewalks.

And yet, unlike in San Francisco, I haven’t seen any JUMP bikes floating in the American River or stuffed in one of midtown’s many trees. Nor have I heard about any being smashed to pieces, smeared with feces or doused with lighter fluid and torched.

But as a midtown resident living in the heart of JUMP bike territory, I fear that a backlash is coming — and I say this as someone who truly believes the bike-share program is one of the best things to happen to Sacramento in the three years that I’ve lived here.

By the end of the year, there will be 900 of the bikes in the region, probably in more neighborhoods. Before that happens, something has to change. I would argue that Sacramento is uniquely qualified to make that happen.

Meanwhile, other cities, from L.A. to Minneapolis to Nashville, are playing catch up. Startups, such Lime and Bird, dropped hundreds of electric scooters and bikes on streets without seeking a permit, forcing the cities to try banning the companies after the fact to hammer out safety rules and a permit process.

All Sacramento has to do, though, is enforce the laws it already passed — something the city has admitted it’s not doing when it comes to traffic enforcement and fining people for locking JUMP bikes to poles instead of a bike rack. Then again, it’s not like the city has actually provided enough bike racks or completed the haphazard network of on-street bike lanes so people don’t have to ride on the sidewalk.

City Councilman Steve Hansen said the city is working with JUMP to teach riders about good etiquette, using messaging that would appear in the app and on the bikes. A little common sense and awareness by those of us who use JUMP bikes wouldn’t hurt, either. All of which would make Russell very happy.

About This Blog

Erika D. Smith joined The Sacramento Bee in May 2015 after spending most of her career in the nebulous Midwest. She previously worked for The Indianapolis Star in Indiana, where, as metro columnist, she covered issues related to neighborhoods, community development, public safety and diversity. She also worked for five years at the Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio. She is a native of Cleveland.